youtube-dl DMCA'd by the RIAA - RIAA and MPAA are on a mass takedown spree

[Coffee Shits]

I don't quite get the RIAA's angle here. I understand them going after torrent sites, Mega etc due to their obvious purpose to be sharing actual music that could have been bought - but it's not like they're selling music videos to anyone.
Are they afraid people are using the sound-only extractor options for music videos?

This seems a case of "legally they're in the right, not sure it's worth their time".

It's worth their time because TV and radio are dead and the record labels are seeing returns on ads and analytics on YouTube videos. You rip the YouTube video, you can watch it any time you want without Google tickling your computer in its sensitive spot every time. Worse, you can throw up a free copy of it anywhere and the labels don't get a cut.

The RIAA is not legally in the right, but at this stage it is going to cost money and time to prove it.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Youtube-dl uses python though, you have to install it through pip on linux IIRC.

Yes but Jdownloader is a separate thing, it has a decent installer on Linux I think. It's what I've used to download Youtube videos for a long time, it's got a GUI and all!

It's worth their time because TV and radio are dead and the record labels are seeing returns on ads and analytics on YouTube videos. You rip the YouTube video, you can watch it any time you want without Google tickling your computer in its sensitive spot every time. Worse, you can throw up a free copy of it anywhere and the labels don't get a cut.

The RIAA is not legally in the right, but at this stage it is going to cost money and time to prove it.

Look into the history of the recording industry, they've been against absolutely everything and have been consistently wrong, starting in the early 1900's. They hated radio because it would eat into record sales then they hated vinyl because it would eat up their profits from radio play and so on.

 

[MuuMuu Bunnylips]

I saw some speculation that profits from concerts and sales were way down due to lack of concerts

Really? Wow; it's almost like there's a world-wide epidemic or something!

 

[Hitman One]

I'm sure we can agree that ensuring that talentless hacks like the over-promoted busker Ed Sheeran and their "managers" can buy a third house is a worthy cause. Godamnit I fucking hate the music industry.

 

[nya001]

It's worth their time because TV and radio are dead and the record labels are seeing returns on ads and analytics on YouTube videos. You rip the YouTube video, you can watch it any time you want without Google tickling your computer in its sensitive spot every time. Worse, you can throw up a free copy of it anywhere and the labels don't get a cut.

The RIAA is not legally in the right, but at this stage it is going to cost money and time to prove it.

I don't know, I would think the burden of proof is on the RIAA. And it's shaky to state it's a copyright violation, maybe a violation of YTs TOS. "Circumvention" laws were made for software that needed a registration code or that worked only for some time.

But using as evidence a comment in the source code, which even when executed doesn't work and additionally the software uses Python and doesn't work on its own is not solid ground.

I would compare it to a printer technical manual that says test it with a newspaper website. Yes technically it could be suggesting a copyright violation so fine, we will change the technical manual but in the same way that most people will read the quick instructions, most people will just execute youtube-dl.

But then also wget could be used for copyright violations and so could Google's very own "save image as" in their browser. And aren't search results technically copying part of a copyrighted text? It sounds like when they wanted to forbid PGP/GPG because it was exporting a weapon.

Anything can be possible from a judge's mind, but it sounds like they are just throwing something on the wall and seeing if it sticks. Very little to lose if it doesn't. Except that if they go to court, youtube-dl's source code will have to be entered as evidence and will be on the public record, like when those people who believe in aliens went against anon.penet.fi , they killed it but made all their secret stuff a matter of public record.

 

[Coffee Shits]

I don't know, I would think the burden of proof is on the RIAA. And it's shaky to state it's a copyright violation, maybe a violation of YTs TOS. "Circumvention" laws were made for software that needed a registration code or that worked only for some time.

But using as evidence a comment in the source code, which even when executed doesn't work and additionally the software uses Python and doesn't work on its own is not solid ground.

I would compare it to a printer technical manual that says test it with a newspaper website. Yes technically it could be suggesting a copyright violation so fine, we will change the technical manual but in the same way that most people will read the quick instructions, most people will just execute youtube-dl.

But then also wget could be used for copyright violations and so could Google's very own "save image as" in their browser. And aren't search results technically copying part of a copyrighted text? It sounds like when they wanted to forbid PGP/GPG because it was exporting a weapon.

Anything can be possible from a judge's mind, but it sounds like they are just throwing something on the wall and seeing if it sticks. Very little to lose if it doesn't. Except that if they go to court, youtube-dl's source code will have to be entered as evidence and will be on the public record, like when those people who believe in aliens went against anon.penet.fi , they killed it but made all their secret stuff a matter of public record.

The problem is that it already stuck - the repo was pulled. I agree with you that the RIAA would need to prove damages in a court of law and the examples they cite are nonsense, but at this stage they don't have to and it's going to be costly on the part of the YTDL team to fix. They will likely have to get their lawyers involved.

 

[Kosher Salt]

The problem is that it already stuck - the repo was pulled. I agree with you that the RIAA would need to prove damages in a court of law and the examples they cite are nonsense, but at this stage they don't have to and it's going to be costly on the part of the YTDL team to fix. They will likely have to get their lawyers involved.

GitHub is just doing the cucked thing and handling this like they'd handle any DMCA takedown notice. Remove the content, let the harmed party file a counter claim if they feel that it was wrong. Then GitHub gets to wash their hands and be like "sorry bro, it's just the law, we're not at fault here" and nobody can sue them.

It'd be interesting to see if youtube-dl files a counter notice, though. They'd be putting their name on the line for the RIAA to potentially try to come sue them.

 

[Rozzy]

If everything else fails youtube-dl and updates can be distributed via bit-torrent then there will be fuck all the RIAA can do about it.

TorrentFreak have published an article about the RIAA's takedown.

https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-takes-down-popular-open-source-youtube-dl-software-201024/

 

[ʕノ•ᴥ•ʔノ Pander]

RIAA in a nutshell:
-Find new way to distribute music for free
-Have an autistic sperg out and try to shut it down
-figure out how to make money out of said way
-repeat cycle ad-infinitum

God save the music industry. For only he can save it now.

 

[Aidan]

youtube-dl robs artists of billions annually from people downloading from all the music downloading people do on youtube. Sad, really.

I'm gonna be real mad sad if this doesn't get rectified in a manner that benefits youtube-dl users and youtube-dl. It's a great utility that is simple enough for just about anyone to use easily and malleable enough to be extremely powerful. Nothing else even comes close that I'm aware of.

 

[Sage In All Fields]

Youtube-dl uses python though, you have to install it through pip on linux IIRC.

You don't need pip you can just install it straight into your PATH

 

[Useful_Mistake]

Fun fact, the EU reluctantly released a study showing that piracy had zero meaningful effect on profits.

This one? Because it concluded that " In 2008, both physical and digital piracy induced €10 billion in revenue losses and more than 185 000 jobs lost in Europe in the selected creative industries."

This one.

Thank You!

 

[Dante Alighieri]

This one? Because it concluded that " In 2008, both physical and digital piracy induced €10 billion in revenue losses and more than 185 000 jobs lost in Europe in the selected creative industries."

This one.

 

[⠠⠠⠅⠑⠋⠋⠁⠇⠎ ⠠⠠⠊⠎ ⠠⠠⠁ ⠠⠠⠋⠁⠛]

Use Jdownloader2, it captures copying the link even.

Pros: easy to use, made in Java so it works on all platforms, lots of options for youtube like culling 2160p VP9.

I really recommend JDownloader to most people. Even if you are perfectly capable of using the command line options youtube-dl has, if you actually need to pick a specific file format or really do anything more complex than just downloading the video at original quality or just the audio, you could just do it in less time in JDownloader.

Cons: Made in Java, made by german Linux spergs, there's some optional pay shit I don't understand and it's probably meant for porn.

Made in Java by German Linux spergs ≠ Made in Java by Indians. It's a little resource heavy if you run it on a PC that's a decade old and really underpowered, but no real issues on anything remotely modern. As for the porn, well.. youtube-dl --list-extractors lists over a thousand extractors, and only 20 have porn in the name, with about 14 of them starting with 'porn...'. I don't see a way to extract a text list for JDownloader, but it does support setting up accounts for >3000 sites, and less than ten start with 'porn...'. Also, youtube-dl has an extractor for 'watchindianporn', which does not appear on the JDownloader account list. Conclusion: JDownloader is less perverted than youtube-dl, despite being made by Germans.

 

[Least Concern]

Staying on top of youtube's constant changes is a tedious and thankless enough job as it is, without having to worry about the RIAA. This project's dead.

I think you misunderestimate the autism tenacity and hatred of censorship of the types of nerds who lead and contribute to OSS projects. I speak personally here. The project will survive in some shape and form. Don't worry.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting that GitHub is serving a 451 Unavailable for Legal Reasons HTTP status code in its response when you request the youtube-dl repo. This code was numbered to match up with Fahrenheit 451, a book about a censorship-heavy near-future dystopia.

 

[Herbert West Reanimator]

Glad to see people spreading awareness of the piracy study the EU tried to keep hush-hush. Never forget that the only industry that suffers any measurable negative effect from piracy is physical movie theaters, and those were outmoded before many of us were even born. Also never forget that vidya in particular appears to gain positive effects from piracy.

And never, ever, ever listen to a middleman when he insists you're hurting those poor starving artists. He doesn't give a fuck about said artists. He's using a stereotype that tugs at your heartstrings in the hope that you'll agree to let him remain in business. Buy your music directly from artists, or via platforms that demonstrably care (and provide really good customer service) like Bandcamp. Fuck big record labels, fuck DRM, and fuck the RIAA.

 

[⠠⠠⠅⠑⠋⠋⠁⠇⠎ ⠠⠠⠊⠎ ⠠⠠⠁ ⠠⠠⠋⠁⠛]

I think you misunderestimate the autism tenacity and hatred of censorship of the types of nerds who lead and contribute to OSS projects. I speak personally here. The project will survive in some shape and form. Don't worry.

The issue is that if someone.. at some point.. doesn't tell them to fuck right off, legally, the RIAA can continue to go after this project, and others, and not just on GitHub, but on any sites based in the US offering youtube-dl packages in their distribution repositories, etc.

It will be interesting to see if any of these supposed activist organizations like the EFF take this case up. If they don't, they'll confirm that they're nothing but the patsies of Silicon Valley megacorps.

 

[Coffee Shits]

Anyway, I thought it was interesting that GitHub is serving a 451 Unavailable for Legal Reasons HTTP status code in its response when you request the youtube-dl repo. This code was numbered to match up with Fahrenheit 451, a book about a censorship-heavy near-future dystopia.

I like to think there's just one dork toiling in anonymity at GitHub that refused to allow his peers to implement this as anything else.

 

[m0rnutz]

If everything else fails youtube-dl and updates can be distributed via bit-torrent then there will be fuck all the RIAA can do about it.

TorrentFreak have published an article about the RIAA's takedown.

https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-takes-down-popular-open-source-youtube-dl-software-201024/

Couldn't Youtube break everything on their end though and make the seeds useless

 

[Punished Brent]

Idk if null should do anything, you can only piss off so many groups of gods chosen people before the Hebrew hammer falls upon you